Brian wrote: > So, the question remains. Is creating an initrd on Debian really > necessary?
I am not at 100% sure, but AFAIK when you install the kernel mkinitramfs or update-initramfs would add the modules already used by the kernel at the moment of creation of the initrd. This could explain a lot. As I explained before it is not possible to mount the root fs thus pass the boot process to init/systemd if you don't have the proper driver(s). If the drivers are included in the initrd it would boot ok, if not you are offered the limitted shell. So again initrd is needed unless you have the drivers compiled in the kernel. You can try this .. just remove the initrd line when you boot regards
